Terrifying Footage Shows Wildfires Raging Either Side of Train Tracks As Heatwave Forces Evacuations

A train passenger travelling through Zamora in northwestern Spain has captured terrifying footage of wildfires raging outside their carriage. 

Journalist Francisco Seoane Pérez took to Twitter on Monday (18 July) to post a video that captured a ‘moment of panic’ among passengers when their train stopped at 9.30am, surrounded by fire. 

Pérez wrote: “Moments of panic on the Madrid-Ferrol train at Zamora-Sanabria, 9:30 a.m. The train continued the journey after a few minutes.”

Train from Madrid to Galicia stopped on the tracks for a few minutes this morning. Passengers surrounded by wildfire. "Moments of panic", reports @PacoSeoanePerez. Then the train continued on its journey.pic.twitter.com/2xytTNL6eL

— Matthew Bennett | The Spain Report (@matthewbennett) July 18, 2022

Many parts of Europe have burst into flames in recent days as a heatwave continues to spark wildfires across the continent. 

Last week, more than 3,200 people were evacuated due to wildfires in southern Spain’s Mijas hills, although some have since been able to return. 

The wildfires were ignited not far from Spain’s popular tourist area Málaga and fires have also broken out in Galicia, Castilla y León and Extremadura.

Málaga resident Ellen McCurdy told Reuters: "We just grabbed a few essentials and just ran really, and by that stage everybody along the street was on the move... there were a lot of ambulances and fire engines."

In the west of the country, more than 5,000 hectares have been lost to wildfires and highways have been closed down between Extremadura and Salamanca.

Over 1,000 heatwave-related deaths have been recorded this past week in Europe, Reuters reports, as countries across the continent continue to see 'abnormally high' temperatures.

In Spain, military emergency workers were sent to help firefighters battling out of control wildfires. The wildfires are said to have spread over at least 14,000 hectares of land, with masses of people being evacuated.

Amongst them was an elderly couple, both British ex-pats, who had to flee as the fire approached their home.

"It was very fast... I didn’t take it too seriously. I thought they had it under control and I was quite surprised when it seemed to be moving in our direction," William McCurdy explained to Reuters.

Meanwhile, in Turkey, over 3,000 people have been evacuated because of a wildfire in the Datca peninsula, located in the south-west.

Closer to home, the Met Office has issued a red weather warning in the UK, which alerts people to 'population-wide adverse health effects' and a 'high risk of failure' to heat-sensitive systems, which includes potential power cuts and drops in water services.

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